Huerta, Lau, Macias, Sanchez, Wang 1

Process Paper
When deciding on a History Day topic, many ideas come to mind, but not all are suited for this kind of project. We discovered that many of our ideas were too enclosed and we knew that almost everyone participating would immediately come up with those turning points. We began thinking about other countries and focused on Russia since many still think that Russia is a potential enemy. We thought about the creation of modern Russia, which was the result of the downfall of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union, a major world power, collapsed from within, which brought about Russia, a key country in the world; a perfect turning point! As we started to become familiar with the topic, we collected many notable sources. Many of the sources we found were supporters of the collapse and Gorbachev, such as Perspectives on Modern World History: The Dissolution of the Soviet Union by Myra Immell, but some strongly opposed Gorbachev and wanted the Soviet Union to be resurrected, such as What Went Wrong with Perestroika by Marshall Goldman. Gorbachevs autobiographies explained his thoughts while the Soviet Union slowly disintegrated, and how Gorbachev believed that his new policies would save his nation. Many books written by Gorbachevs detractors, such as Gorbachev by Zhores A. Medvedev, pointed out how his policies were flawed and how they made life difficult for various individuals. They believed that the Soviet Union would still be here today if Gorbachev never took office. Gorbachevs supporters, however, perceive him as someone who greatly helped the Soviet Union become a better country. Many of Gorbachevs autobiographies were of the greatest help since they not only gave us a firstperson view on the changes, but also other countries views on the Soviet Union. We incorporated all of these perspectives into our project by adding quotes and specific information that can only be found in these certain sources.

Huerta, Lau, Macias, Sanchez, Wang 2 Our presentation is displayed as a website; we want to utilize modern day technology to explain the History Day theme in a format that will attract ones attention. Our goal was to challenge ourselves by making the best website we possibly could with our resources. To fulfill this goal, we included not only historical information, but also pictures, graphics, and music that will better explain our topic and allow the reader to understand the multiple viewpoints and consequences of Gorbachevs reforms. Gorbachevs doctrines and the collapse of the Soviet Union represent a turning point in history because it changed Russia from a socialist society to a quasi-democracy and set off a movement that later improved the economy, relations with other countries, and the living conditions of the Russian people. These events also led to the end of the Cold War, which had kept the world fearful of nuclear annihilation for 45 years. This historical event not only benefitted Russia, but the entire world as well and allowed countries to finally not be fearful or overshadowed by the great Soviet Union.